Electric steering-gear.



No. 735,550. PATENTED AUG. 4, 1903. W. L. MERRILL.

ELECTRIC STEERING GEAR.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 18, 1903.

H0 MODEL.

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UNITED STATES Y Patented August 4, 1903.

PATENT OFFICE.

XVILBUR L. MERRILL, OF SCHENECTADY, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

ELECTRIC STEERING-G EAR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 735,550, dated August 4, 1903.

' Application filed April 18, 1903. Serial No. 153,201. (No model.)

To a. whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILBUR L. MERRILL, a citizen of the United States,resi ding at Schenectady, county of Schenectady, State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Electric Steering-Gear, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to means for producing a predetermined movement at a distant point, and although useful in many other relations it is also adapted for use in shipsteering, and will therefore be described in that connection.

The nature of my invention will be understood by reference to the following description,taken in connection with the accompany ing drawing, and its scope will be particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

The figure of the drawing is a diagram of my controlling system as applied to shipsteering.

Referring to this diagram, C designates the controller, which is connected with a steering-wheel P and adapted to rotate therewith. This controller, which is cylindrical in form, is provided with a series of contact-strips adapted to engage contacting brushes. These contact-strips are connected together electrically, and beginning with the contactstrip 11, adjacent to the wheel P, whichis the shortest contact, their lengths progressively increase until the last contact-strip A is reached, and this extends completely around the cylinder. By this arrangement the brushes successively engage or disengage said contact-strips upon the rotation of the controller. The brush A which contacts with the contact-strip A, is connected by the wires 12 and 13 to the supply-main 14. The other brushes 1 to 11 are connected through the wires of a cable 15 with contacts 1 to 11, respectively, located adjacent to the rudder R and adapted to be engaged by brushes 16 and 17, carried by an arm 18 upon the stem of said rudder. Also secured to the rudderstem is a segmental gear 19, adapted to be engaged by a pinion 20, mounted on the shaft 21 of a motor M. This motor is provided with a brake B, which is automatically applied through the agency of the spring 22 when no current passes through the motor and is automatically released through the action of the solenoid 23 in drawing up the plunger 24 when current passes through the motor. This brake is of a Well-known type and need not be further described in this case.

a lead 26, extending to a switch-arm 27 of a switch S, which is adapted to engage the contact 28 under the action of gravity and to be drawn into engagement with the contact 29 throughthe agency of the solenoid 30,-drawing up the plunger 31. This solenoid 30 is connected at one end, through the wire 31, to the lead 32, extending from the supply-main 25 and at the other, through the wire 33, to the brush 17, which is adapted to engage the segments 1 to 11. The switch-contact 29 is connected by a wire 34 to the'contact 35 of a switch S similar to the switch S. The arm 36 of the switch S engages the contact 37 when gravity alone acts, and a contact-plate 38 on its upper surface insulated from the rest of the arm 36 engages the contacts 35 and 39 when the plunger 40 is drawn up by the action of the solenoid 41. The solenoid 41 is connected at one end through the Wire 42 with the lead 32 and at the other end through the wire 43 with the brush 16, which cooperates with the brush 17 in engaging the segments 1 to 11. The'motor field-winding 44 is connected at its middle point bya wire 45 with the brush 46 and at its ends by the wires 47 and 48 with the arm 36 and the contact 39, respectively, ofthe switch S. The other brush 49 of the motor is connected by wires 50 and 51, through the solenoid 23, to the lead 13. The contacts 37 and 28 of the switches S and S, respectively, are connected together by the wire 50.

In the operation of my system when the controller C is rotated the brushes are brought one after the other into engagement or disengagement with the contact-strips, so that for any given position of the controller the brushes from one end up to a given point will be in engagement with their contacting Connected to the other supply-main 25 is strips, and therefore all the-contactswith which the brushes 16 and 17 are adapted to engage from one end up to a corresponding 16, wire 43, solenoid 41, Wire 42, and lead 32 to the supply-main 25, the other portion of the current-path being from the supply-main 14 through the leads 13 and 12, the brush A contact-strip A, the connection between the contact-strips, the contact-strip 5, the brush 5 and thence through the cable 15 to the contact 5. This current will therefore energize the solenoid 41 to draw up the plate 38 on the switch-arm 36 into engagement with the contacts 35 and 39. No current will flow from the brush 17 through the wire 33 and the solenoid 30, and therefore the switch-arm 27 will remain in engagement with the contact 28. For this position of the switches S and S it will be seen that no current passes through the motor, for that branch which leads from the field-winding 44 through the wire 47 is broken at the point 36 37, and the other branch, which includes the wire 48, the contacts 39 35, and the wire 34, is broken at the point 29 27. Thus whenever one of the brushes 16 17 is in engagement with a dead contact and the other with a live contact the motor is not operated, and therefore the rudder is held stationary. If, however, the controller O is moved so as to energize enough of the contacts 1 to 11 so as to bring both brushes 16 and 17 on live contacts, it will be seen that the motor will operate to bring the brushes to the aforesaid stationary condition. Thus if the brushes 16 and 17 are both in engagement with live contacts both solenoids 30 and 41 will be energized and the switch-arms 27 and 36 drawn up. This action of the switches will close a circuit through the motor as follows: main supply 14, lead 13, wires 51 50, brushes 49 46, wire 45, one-half the field-winding 44, wire 48, contacts 39 35, wire 34, contact 29, switch-arm 27, and lead 26 to supply-main 25. When the stationary condition of the brushes 16 and 17 is again reached through the operation of the motor upon the rudder and the arm 18, the motor will be stopped by the breaking of this circuit at the point 27 29. If the controller 0 should be rotated to bring both of the brushes 16 and 17 into engagement with dead contacts, the solenoids 30 and 41 would be de energized and the switch-arms 27 and 36 consequently brought into engagement with the contacts 28 and 37, respectively, and current would then flow through the other portion of the field-Winding 44, the wire 47, switch-arm 36, contact 37, wire 50, contact 28, switcharm 27, and lead 26 to supply-main 25. This current would produce a rotation of the motor in the opposite direction until the brushes 16 17 again engage live and dead contacts.

It is clear that if the momentum of the parts should carry the brushes 16 and 17 beyond the stationary point the motor would be immediately reversed to return the parts to this point.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is

1. The combination of a motor, a series of contacts, brushes geared to said motor and adapted to move over said contacts when the motor-armature rotates, means for charging a greater or less number of said contacts, and means dependent upon the position of said brushes and of the charged contacts for varying the motor connections.

2. The combination of a motor, a series of contacts, brushes geared to said motor and adapted to move over said contacts when the motor-armature rotates, means for charging a greater or less number of said contacts, and means for connecting up said motor to rotate in one direction when said brushes engage dead contacts and in the opposite direction when they engage live contacts and to stop said motor when said conditions do not exist.

3. The combination of a motor, a series of contacts, brushes geared to said motor and adapted to move over said contacts when the motor-armature rotates, means for charging a greater or less number of said contacts, electrical connections for said motor, and means under the control of said brushes for varying said connections so as to drive the motor in one direction when the brushes engage dead contacts and in the opposite direction when they engage live contacts and to stop said motor when said above conditions do not exist.

4. The combination of a motor, a series of contacts, a rudder geared to said motor, brushes rigidly connected with said rudder and adapted to move over said contacts when the rudder moves,means for chargingagreater orless number of said contacts, electrical connections for said motor, and means under the control of said brushes for varying said connections so as to drive the motor when the brushes engage dead contacts in a direction to move the brushes toward the live contacts and when the brushes engage live contacts in a direction to move them toward the dead contacts and to stop said motor when said brushes engage both live and dead contacts.

5. The combination of supply-mains, a motor, a series of contacts, a controller for connecting a greater or less number of said contacts to one supply-main, and means associated with said contacts and the other supplymain for varying the motor connections.

6. The combination of supply-mains, a motor, a series of contacts, a series of fixed controller-contacts, the corresponding contacts of each series being electrically connected, a

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my handthis 16th day of April, 1903.

WILBUR L. MERRILL.

Witnesses:

BENJAMIN B. HULL, MARGARET E. WOOLLEY. 

